The fate of Channel Five is due to be determined on Friday when its parent company, RTL, holds a board meeting to weigh up whether Richard Desmond's bid is worth advancing to exclusive negotiations.

The meeting, to be attended by key executives including RTL chief executive Gerhard Zeiler and Five chief executive Dawn Airey, will have the task of deciding with which of the final three bidders to pursue discussions for a sale of the ailing broadcaster.

Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express, the Daily Star and OK! magazine, is understood to have tabled the highest bid at around £100m. His bid also poses the fewest potential regulatory issues of the remaining contenders and would therefore be potentially the quickest sale.

NBC Universal and Channel 4, which has held strained discussions in the past over a potential tie-up with Five, are understood to be in the running – but have not tabled deals with terms as attractive as Desmond's.

"Whatever you think of him, he does have an ability to take brands that are slightly underperforming and do something with them," said one insider. "He sweats celebrity interviews and make money out of them."

Desmond, who has made it clear he has a £1bn pot to spend on acquisitions, is already active in the television market through his Northern & Shell subsidiary Portland TV, which owns the Television X and Red Hot TV channels.

A deal could be signed on Friday, if the board can ratify a decision, but could take several weeks to complete after that.

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